Swamiji shares some beautiful memories of his Guru – Swami Nischalananda Puri. Disc 142 track 5.
To listen to Swamiji speaking, please fully open this post and then click on the link below. 👇
This transcription was lovingly made by our gurubhai, Atmaprakash Kramer.
A few things about my guru [Swami Nischalananda Puri], if you don’t mind. I did not meet my guru physically first. First, I met him in a dream, in a vision as it were. I used to see there’s clear water flowing, in my small [very young] days, clear water flowing. There was a Syringa-berry tree.
And now only, I find out the significance of a Syringa-berry tree. It’s got medical [medicinal] values [properties] in it. I used to see the Syringa berry tree and in the river, he’s [the guru] got [wearing] the dhoti, with thin legs, I see. Dark brown legs, flowing clear water, and every time I went [moved] towards the leg, to look at the leg nicely in the dream, and I wanted to touch it, I used to get [wake] up. Every time, and this dream I used to have over and over, slim legs, from here [Swamiji indicating on own leg], upwards I can’t see. But only from here, downwards. And before even coming to Gurudev [our love and respect-driven term at the Ramakrishna Centre, to distinguish which Swami we’re talking about] this used to go on. But before that how I got Ramakrishna, that’s another story.
And it makes me say [this to you], not because [so] you think about me, that I am great, that’s far from it, here I come to show you, how great is my Guru, how great your Guru is. That you think in your position, that you’ve got to find your Guru, but your Guru [has] found you already!
Ramana Maharshi was enlightened. He did not initiate disciples as it were. Someone came and asked him, ‘Look here, tell me, are you my guru?’ He thought and he said, ‘The Self is the guru.’ What? God is the guru. And he [the questioner] was not still satisfied, he said, ‘Well, must I go to another guru now, because you do not initiate?’ So Ramana Maharshi says very lovingly, he says, ‘Guru is in everything, everywhere, it is. You already went to the guru, must I give you [confirm] this, in writing?’ (Swamiji chuckles: must I give it to you in writing? Now you see how they hint at [truths]? You didn’t need to go there, I’ll give it to you in writing.
So, here my Gurudev, the guru’s leg I used to see, then one day, what happened? He came to the [then] Wiggins Road [branch of the Ramakrishna Centre]. I don’t know why they called it that. [Swamiji says jokingly] A Mr. Wiggs used to live there, or something like that. I thought he [Mr Wiggs 😉] was a bald-headed man wearing a wig. [Congregation laughing]. So [Gurudev] came to the service there, and very significantly, there was a barber one side, and this long haired, slim-looking man arrived.
So, I went to him, it was like – I don’t know if I want to tell you this, it truly felt like a magnet capturing me and pulling me towards him – irresistible. I went there and looked at him, and before prostrating, I said: ‘Can I see one thing?’ He said ‘What?’ And I took his hand and pinched it, [audience chuckle], and there was blood. He didn’t say a word, took out his hanky [handkerchief], put it there and held it like this [Swamiji demonstrates]. Babu Sony was there too, and then I prostrated, and when I prostrated, I saw the legs. Then it was that I realised, that it was these legs I used to dream of. Why? Because of his dark brown colour. He had a perfect leg, with dark brown colour. He looked at me, I teared [wept], and I went and sat [down]. From that day I knew, what my guru has found in me. Because all this time in a dream, now he has come in front of me.
Once before that I was going to commit suicide, and you know that I landed [ended up] in this Albert Park [in Durban]. [Congregation chuckles knowingly]. Don’t worry, I didn’t go there for anything [it’s a known drugs-haven], I went there to commit suicide. I landed [up] at Albert Park. I found that nobody was there, it was quiet, there was this ship [visible] there [it’s next to the ocean], coming and going, and suddenly what happened, I was very, very depressed, very depressed, my legs were not right [Swamiji had ‘Charcot Marie Tooth’ (the names of the medical discoverers) disease in his legs]. Because my legs were not right, my head was not right. Because I couldn’t get employment and you know how at the house [at home] they passed good [strong] hints [about Swamiji being a burden]. There was darkness all round. So I thought in the end, well, what’s the use living this useless life?
I got up [climbed] the tree, I took out those, you know what [neck] ties. Took the ties, knotted two ties, and tied it up there [to a branch], and was about saying some prayer, and suddenly what happened, someone asked: ‘What the!’ I looked to the side and saw a policeman. I untied this [the noose] and he gave me a couple of good ones [slaps]. I jumped off the tree and I ran for my life. I was giving my life up, but now I’m running for my life! [Congregation laughs].
And then I decided, why is this? Why is God doing this to me? And I sat there and I took [picked up] a Viceroy, you know the cigarette [brand] Viceroy, it was there, I picked up the Viceroy packet. I had a blunt pencil, I wrote this kirtan that Swamiji sang, I wrote that kirtan at the time of my [attempted] suicide. And it is very significant in my life, up to now. Because, when there is no shelter for a man, when there is darkness everywhere, the only light was given by my guru to me. And he maintained my life.
There is another story, how he made my leg better. But if I can jump from that – then I found what? That for humanity’s sake, for human’s sake, he has given up [sacrificed] his life. And for human sake, he did not want to keep himself [as a monk] in the Ramakrishna Mission, because they will send him wherever they like. [This is done to prevent a monk relying on a family support system in his country of origin – and to grow genuine detachment]. From there [diksha initiation at Belur Math] taking initiation from [Swami] Virajanandadji Maharaj [the 6th President of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission], he went right into the Himalayas. Swami Purushottamananda Maharaj gave him sannyas [at Vasishtha Guha] and he came back here. And it was this Gurudev, who gave us such human love first, and by that human love, he bound us.
We would come here [to the ashram]. One day, what happened, three of us here, I prostrate to my Gurubhai Vishnu, himself, Sia Moodley and as usual ‘black Bobby’ Manmohan. We were coming up, and before coming up from Wiggins Road, we came past the Shah Jahan Cinema, and there we looked at the Himalaya Hotel, and our Vishnu was a very jovial man. He said: Inder, I said, ‘Yes?’ He said, ‘Why go to the Himalayas to meditate, let’s go to this Himalaya, we can get spirits and get drunk.’ [Congregation enjoy and laugh]. And we laughed about it, then we came here [to the Avoca ashram], no sooner that we were coming up the steps [a long flight from the bottom road to the main building], and Gurudev is standing there, and you know what were his words? ‘Hey, why go to the Himalayas, huh? Get into this hotel, huh?’ And we looked at each other, because if someone was there, we would definitely say, they ‘pimped us’ [told Gurudev]. But all three of us were together. This is how our guru built our faith in him, that we start knowing, slowly, slowly [gradually], that whatever we are doing, he knows.
One night we were sleeping upstairs. Gurudev’s not here – Gurudev came late in the night, and we slept away [had already gone to sleep]. So next morning Sia Moodley gets up and says: ‘You know what? Swamiji is going to tell us today, to not go home, so we stay.’ I asked, ‘How do you know that?’ He replied, ‘I dreamt last night, he is telling us that.’ So, no sooner we got out of [finished] prostrating [to Gurudev to greet him], than he [Gurudev] is telling Sia Moodley, ‘Hey, you dreamt last night I told you to stay, huh? So, you’ll have to stay!’ [Congregation laughing].
Now this may be [seem] very insignificant to you, but to us, it was very significant. It starts telling us a good lot of stories about the old man [their term of affection for Gurudev], that he was definitely hearing, but how? Don’t ask me how. [Congregation laughs]. He had an ‘extension ear’, like Hanuman’s tail, grown out [like an aerial]. But there was definitely [communication] passing something between us, that [how] we don’t know.
The free-to-read, 396 page Flipbook version of Swamiji’s biography is available by clicking HERE.
These recordings were made from the 1970s onward, by Mother Radha, a close devotee of Swamiji’s and edited for uploading here by our gurubhai and her son, Brother Tim. Please be mindful that what Swamiji was saying may have been specific to an individual or a group of people with him, at the time.